Travel Woes, and 'The Goat'

I booked to see Edward Albee's 'The Goat: Or,Who is Sylvia' because I couldn't resist the chance to see Sophie Okonedo live on stage.


I booked a matinee, as that lets me travel up to London for the day without having to incur the cost of a hotel.

Things did not work out entirely to plan.

I arrived in Bath to catch my train to London, and discovered that it had been cancelled, apparently due to a fire on a train somewhere near Swindon. This necessitated  so careful calculations which led e to the conclusion that *if* the next train was on time, and assuming no delays on the tube, I ought to just be able to make it to the theatre on time, so I decided to wait and catch the next train. (I hate being late, so tend always to be early, which does at least mean that missing a train and being delayed for a time need not be a complete disaster)

It was, inevitably, a very crowded train, and very hot, but I did eventually get to London, and to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. 

The play is... odd. Successful, award-winning architect Martin (Damian Lewis) has been happily married to his wife, Stevie (Sophie Okonedo) for 22 years, has a loving (and gay) son, Billy (Archie Madekwe) and is due to be interviewed by his oldest friend, Ross (Jason Hughes), about his 50th Birthday, his recent award, and the new, flattering commission he has received to design a new billion dollar city.  

Ross challenges Martin about his absent-mindedness and lack of engagement with the interview, and he confesses that his distraction is due to his having fallen in love and started an affair ... with a goat.

The play then follows the reactions to Martin's confession - Ross's disgust, Stevie's disbelief, then anger and despair (and a lot of smashing things) 

It's blackly comic in places - even while fighting over the disintegration of their marriage, Stevie and Martin can be sidetracked by semantics and word-play. And pretty dark, by the end.

Interesting, though. I'm glad I saw it.  And Sophie Okonedo is awesome.

It is on at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, until 24th June, so you don't have a lot of time if you want to go!.

It's just as well the play was worth seeing, as, as well as the fun delays on my journey in, I got delayed again coming home. My train got stuck on account of a train near Swindon having a small fire, which resulted in some of the passengers being evacuated onto the trackside, which (understandably)  means they have to stop all the trains.

We ended up sitting at Didcot for an hour, which meant I also missed the last but back to the Park and Ride. Somewhat to my surprise, when I asked, the rail company did give me a voucher for a taxi to the car park,which was a relief, as I *really* didn't fancy walking 3 miles uphill, at the end of a long, very hot day!

Fortunately, none of the people on the train were hurt, they just got delayed even more than we did, I think

The Addams Family Musical

I really wanted to like the Addams Family Musical. 

It seemed like a nice idea. The basic premise is that Wednesday Addams is now 18, and in love with a 'normal' boy, who she invites, with his parents, to meet her family.

And hilarity ensues. 

Or not.

It's good visually, the stage set is suitably spooky, and Morticia (Samantha Womack) and Gomez (Cameron Blakely) look the part, and Carrie Hope Fletcher looks just as you would expect an 18 year old Wednesday Addams to look.

But the plot is thin and clunky, and while a really good musical can get by with next to no plot, in the case, the musical numbers are...fine, but not enough to make up for the productions other shortcomings. 

It's a shame, because the cast are good, it's just that they don't have much to work with.

I think if you want 'normal' people meeting strangers in a spooky house then the Rocky Horror Picture Show has much better music and plot!

Its fair to say that I seemed to be in a minority in this view - the audience was, for the most part, highly enthusiastic and clearly enjoyed the show a good deal more than I did. 

But for me, I found the production distinctly underwhelming. 

2/5 Stars.

If you want to judge for yourself, the production is on tour around the UK until November. 

The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui : Donmar

I've seen Lenny Henry on stage a couple of times - to see Othello in 2009, and Fences in 2013, and he was superb in both, so when I saw that he was going to be appearing at the Donmar Theatre I booked a ticket, despite being unfamiliar with the play, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

The theatre is small, so performances there are always intimate, but this one is more than usually so. The whole of the stalls seating has been removed, and instead, there are cafe tables and chairs, on all 4 sides of the 'stage' (although there was no demarcation between stage and audience), and 'hooch' on sale - the whole effect being that of a 1920's speakeasy.

Cast members were moving around the space, greeting and chatting (in character) with the audience; I had not expected to have Lenny Henry personally greet me and shake my hand as I took my seat! 

For those who, like me, are not intimately familiar with Bertolt Brecht's oeuvre, the play was written in 1941, and is set in prohibition-era, Chicago, covering the rise of Arturo Ui from gangster to politician, in an extremely thinly disguised reference to the rise of Hitler, echoing events such as the Reichstag fire, the night of the long knives and the anschluss / annexation of Austria.

It's very, very good. Although written about the rise of the Nazis, the current production has been updated with some more contemporary references as well - Ui, as he begins his political careers, promises to build a wall, and to make his city great again...

The theatre foyer

The play has a lot of very funny moments, but also a lot of very troubling ones. Lucy Ellinson, was phenomenal, she was utterly convincing as Emmanuelle Giri (Herman Goring) - completely amoral, murderous, superficially charming, and more than slightly unhinged. Giles Terera as Ernesto Roma (Ernst Rohm) was equally good, tough, loyal to his boss, and not too bright (and, also, murdered slightly, early in Act 2)

The production draws heavily on the audience, with members of the audience co-opted to help move kerosene, and one audience member being hauled out to stand trial for setting the warehouse / Reichstag fire, and eventually we all have to stand (or sit) to be counted. 

Lenny Henry  (Ui) himself is excellent in his move from touchy, inarticulate gangster, to smooth (and terrifying) policitician. In fact, he's rather too convincing.

The run ends on 17th June, so there isn't much time to see it, but if you are in London and can get a ticket, it is very definitely worth it. 

London

I was in London yesterday. 

It was a gloriously sunny day, everywhere was busy, the tube was packed, the streets crowded. There were a few more police in evidence than usual, but mostly, everyone was getting on with life as normal.

I wasn't anywhere near London Bridge. And as I was only in London for the day, I'd left, and had been back at home for about 2 hours when the news broke about the attack at London Bridge.

And it is scary, particularly coming so soon after Manchester. Manchester felt personal to me; I used to live there, and although it's over 15 years since I left, it still holds a place in my heart, and I have family and friends still living there.

My heart breaks for the victims, and their families and friends.

(C) Chris Riddell

But you know, I have plans to be in London in 2 weeks time, and I will not be altering those plans. 

I have plans to be there 3 weeks after that, and I won't be changing those plans, either. 

Part of this is statistical - I know that there are, on any given day, literally millions of people in London, and only a tiny, tiny minority are fuckwitted murderers, so the risks are pretty low, but mostly it's because it seems to me that the best, and perhaps the only response most of us can make to this kind of thing is to carry on as normal.

So, mourn for the dead, support the injured and grieving, and keep visiting London, and other cities, keep living your life, and forget the names of the murderers, let them disappear into obscurity and ridicule. 

Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry at Hay

The last of the events I booked for was the glorious meeting of Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry, which, as it turned out, had the additional, wonderful addition of Chris Riddell, illustrating the conversation.

Neil's most recent book is of course his Norse Mythology, retelling some of the stories of the Norse gods, and Stephen, it appears, is in the process of writing a book retelling some of the Greek Myths (out in November).

He explained that when he was told Neil had a book of Norse Myths out his first thought was not the normal joy which one usually feels on learning that Neil has a new book out, but rather 'oh sod, is he doing series?' ..

Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry

He explained that once reassured that Neil wouldn't be publishing a retelling of Greek Myths any time soon, he relaxed and enjoyed the book!

Neil talked a little about when and how he first fell in love with the Norse myths (comics first, then Roger Lancelyn Green). They agreed that it's best to tell the stories and not try to make explain them "If you try and explain them, they get less. They don't get more". 

He also spoke about how different Norse myths are from Greek ones - how inhospitable the world in which the Norse gods live; 'No-one is hanging around wearning not very much and staring at their reflection in pools' 

Neil read an  extract of his story of Loki's children, about the binding of Fenrir.

Fenris Wolf

And Stephen talked about the Greek Myths, and how her grew up on Robert Graves. There was a little discussion about how the ancient greek myths explain the creation of the world, (and how the Norsemen would have known how unscientific the Greeks were, in thinking the world came from chaos, when everyone knew everything was really licked into being by a giant cow...)

They agreed that the ancient Greeks, like the Norse, didn't trust the gods, they are treacherous and unreliable, and as wicked and capricious and lustful as humans!

After a  slight delay (it would appear that  not having yet published your book, makes it harder to actually read from your book.) Stephen read about King Midas, , ('rather a nice King. He loved his roses') who had asses ears, as a result of criticising Apollo's musical ability..

King Midas has Asses Ears

They talked about mining myths, how you can dig down into older versions, (with specific reference to versions of the Orpheus and Euridyce story), and also spoke briefly about 'American Gods'

Chris Riddell illustrated both of them. (It should be mentioned that as Chris's art was being projected onto a large screen at the back of the stage, we the audience could see what he was drawing, but Neil and Stephen couldn't, without turning round, which meant that from time to time their (relatively) serious conversation was interrupted by laughter from the audience!

Is Neil going to be writing a book of Welsh Myths, he was asked

As, for instance, when a member of the audience asked about whether Neil had any plans to use the Welsh Myths.. (Stephen did point out that, out of mercy to his spell-checker he probably shouldn't go from Norse to Welsh myths!)

Questions included Stephen's views on insulting gods He takes the view you can't insult what you don't believe in, but that if it turned out there was an omnipotent god and he met it, he'd be 'a bit cross' .

Neil was asked which of the Norse gods he most identified with (Kvasir, because he didn't to anything to dreadful, and because of the mead of poetry) 

They were also asked about whether they felt like gods while writing. Neil admitted he did when he first got to write Doctor Who, and wrote 'TARDIS, Interior' and when he wrote Batman and realised that he could make Batman do anything!

Finally, Amanda Palmer came onstage to read Neil's poem, 'The Mushroom Hunters' which was new to me.

The BBC was recording the session and put the full thing online here. Watch and enjoy!

After the event, Neil did a signing, which was very generous of him. The tent in which the event was held seats around 1,700 and it seems as though most of us wanted to get stuff signed! 

About an hour and a half  into the queuing-for-the-signing  part of the evening, Amanda and Patrick came to entertain us, (and to let anyone who didn't know, know that they had a gig later) 

It was, as always, lovely to see Neil and say hello, but I can completely understand why he doesn't often do such big signings. 

I had a long drive back home afterwards, so couldn't stay for Amanda's gig, but it was a lovely day!

(More photos from Hay here)

The Hay Festival:The Christopher Hitchens Platform: A New Enlightenment

The second Hay festival event I went to was in the big, 'Tata' tent (which seats around 1,700 people, so 'tent' feels like a bit of an understatement.

Such an awesome line up: Stephen Fry, theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Lawrence Krauss,  historian Bettany Hughes, and astrophysicist Martin Rees, (the Astronomer Royal). It made for a fascinating conversation to listen to.

The starting point of the discussions was whether we need (and whether we are likely to get) a new Enlightenment, with debate about whether we are seeing a beneficial democratisation of knowledge, or a dumbing down - Martin Rees pointed out that knowledge is more readily available but harder to distinguish from 'crap'.

The discussions also covered religion and science and stories "Science is a story. It's a story that makes predictions. But the arbiter of truth is not the story, it's observations.  It's a story you can test" [Lawrence Krauss]

There was also consideration of fanaticism, and whether the modern availability of knowledge and communication might mean that the current wave of fanaticism might pass faster than previous, historical incidences - perhaps the phase will pass faster than it did for, say, Christianity.. which is, I guess, a hopeful view.  

It was a very interesting and thought-provoking conversation, (although the tent did get very stuffy!)

The BBC was present and the whole talk is available online, although it may be region-locked.